Can Multiple Datasets Have Different Schemas?

so if i have a project, with multiple datasets, can the datasets have different schemas?
is it as simple as having different branches in git for each dataset? or i guess even just different

studio

repos?

You can have as many Studios as you'd like for a given project and since the backend is schemaless different datasets can have completely different content models.
The issue arises when you try to have datasets with different schema shown in a single project. You need to do something like set up a conditional desk structure to only show schema relevant to the current active dataset. Note that your

schema.js

would need to have all possible schema defined in it though!

hmm k. so maybe i need to go refresh on all the different parts of how sanity is put together.
but what would be the point of multiple datasets if they all have the same schemas?

im trying to setup a project with my staging and production datasets.

but if i make a schema change and deploy it on staging to test. won't that break production dataset. i understand the data will be available without breaking, but if a content writer goes into the studio, they will see errors about the data not being correct, no?)

Speaking for myself, I think one point would be seeing what effects certain actions would have on the live data without the data being live.
Maybe you'd like to run a script that iterates over documents to substitute fields or change values before/after changing a schema in place, maybe you want to test locally writing new components that patch the data in a specific way but don't want the results to possibly botch everything if you don't get it perfect right out of the gate, etc.

but what would be the point of multiple datasets if they all have the same schemas?

Many reasons. Access control, separation of concerns, multi-tenant Studios.

but if i make a schema change and deploy it on staging to test. won't that break production dataset. i understand the data will be available without breaking, but if a content writer goes into the studio, they will see errors about the data not being correct, no?)

Publishing changes to a staging dataset wouldn't have any effect on a production dataset. They're separate datasets.

Publishing changes to a staging dataset wouldn't have any effect on a production dataset. They're separate datasets.

but if i run

sanity deploy

it will change the schema for both studios, right?

Ah, those are two different things. If you are using the same Studio for both staging and production, then yes, deploying your schema changes would effect production. However, if you're just changing content in a separate dataset, no, it will not effect the other dataset unless you migrate those changes.

right, ok thanks for clarifying

This guide will walk you through using spaces within a single Studio to switch between your production and staging datasets. That may be enough for your use case here!

so if i'm building a site for my company and we want
dev -> staging -> production datasets/schema

we will need multiple projects under our organization:

MyCompanySite - Dev

MyCompanySite - Staging

MyCompanySite - Prod

and then any schema changes would need a

sanity deploy

ok thanks, i will take a look

Got it! So you will want to use spaces to switch between datasets. In terms of your Studio, I would go ahead and use separate branches for each dataset so that you can merge changes as you see fit. Then I'd only run

sanity deploy

from the

prod

branch.

Note that you'd need to upgrade to the Team plan to get access to three datasets, though.